


no experience required

by abcooper



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:10:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14237997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abcooper/pseuds/abcooper
Summary: After they save the universe, there's not much else to do but celebrate





	no experience required

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a happy version of this, though I am gleefully looking forward to having this show BREAK MY HEART with whatever actually goes down

After they defeat Mallus, Ava kisses her. They’re all kind of battered, and a little filthy – Sara doesn’t mind the filth, she finds that the costumes start to look a little more real and a little less stupid after the first layer of grit. She kind of minds the enormous lacerations running down her back. Fighting things with claws is the  _ worst.  _

But Ava kisses her. She does it right in front of the team, just grabs Sara and shoves their mouths together, and it feels less like a planned move than like a slip-up; like she stopped paying attention for a moment and this one kiss got past her. Sara hangs onto her for dear life and kisses back.

Every time Ava kisses her it’s like she disengages from reality for a moment; it’s  _ never  _ been like this. Kissing has been fun through time and space, and its never felt so much like a landslide with anyone else. Ava’s tongue presses against her mouth, and her hands weave into Sara’s hair, and Sara is just  _ gone. _

When Ava pulls back, slowly, almost reluctantly, Sara follows her for a moment before reality falls back into place. Her back hurts, and her team is smirking, and Gary is doing a weird little… fistbump motion. And maybe Ava kisses her like the world is ending even after they’ve saved it, but she  _ doesn’t love Sara back. _

“Let’s get back to the Waverider,” she declares, striving for a tone of ‘I’m still your babysitter and you have to do what I say’. Actual authority figure is feeling a little beyond her just now - she blames it on the lacerations, and maybe that’s why Ava could pull her out of reality so easily too because actually, she thinks maybe she’s lost a lot of blood this fight.

“Have Gideon fix us up, and then I think we’ve earned a party,” she tries to finish the thought, but her words come out a little slurred. Do they sound that way to everyone, or just to her? Probably to everyone, because Ava’s eyes have widened with alarm, and Ray’s are scrunched up in concern, and then she can’t really look at anyone else because things have gone slightly gray.

Ava dives to catch her as the world goes dark. 

**

When she wakes up, she’s in the med bay. Amaya is sitting next to her reading something, but she’s freshly showered, still a little damp, so Sara figures it probably hasn’t actually been a very long turnaround time since saving the universe.

“So are we having a party? Lots to celebrate,” she says, and her voice sounds a little cracked - she’s always thirsty after Gideon heals her. Amaya puts down her book and smiles.

“Welcome back, Captain Lance,” Gideon says, and Sara grins up at the ceiling, because that’s more or less where she figures Gideon is. 

“The party is definitely still going - you feeling ready to join it?” Amaya asks, and suddenly Sara is so filled with warmth. They did it; they saved the whole  _ fucking  _ universe, and they’re all OK, every single one of them. Bloodied but unbowed.

“No better combination than blood loss and alcohol,” she tells Amaya, pushing herself up from the observation table. She can’t keep the goofy grin off her face as she makes a grandiose gesture with her arms and says, “lead the way!” and she can see that Amaya is grinning too.

She didn’t really think that Ava would stay, but she  _ did. _ So did Gary and John, in fact, and they’re over to the side doing shots with  _ Mick _ of all people. Gary looks simultaneously terrified and delighted to be included, and Sara watches tequila splash down his shirt as John gives him an enthusiastic thump on the back to punctuate some comment.

Zari’s lingering by the table with a large plate of cake, obviously saying something mocking to Wally, and Ray and Nate are turned toward each other in deep Bro Conversation. 

Ava isn’t talking to any of them. She's sitting alone to one side, and her eyes locked onto Sara the moment she entered the room, and the look on her face is - complicated. 

“Sara!” Ray shouts, looking delighted to see her, and then everyone is looking her way, grinning, and Sara is grinning back at them - her ridiculous patchwork family, complete with Weird Cousin Gary in the back.

“Well what’ve we got here?” she drawls. “A room full of goddamn heroes.” 

There’s cheering, and Zari hands her a beer.  “Hey, Captain,” she says. “You freaked Ava out.” 

“Hardly,” Ava says stiffly, standing. And then  _ something _ crosses her face and she says, “I’m glad to see that you’re alright.”

“Thanks,” Sara answers softly, smiles at her. Things are complicated, but at least they’re not complicated  _ and  _ at the brink of the destruction of the universe. It feels good to think that maybe they have time to work it out. There's no rush.

Zari talks her into a slice of cake, and Nate is so excited about his totem that Sara can’t help but get drawn into the ridiculous plans he and Ray are making; she goes back and forth between supporting Amaya as the voice of reason and just egging them on.

She  _ almost  _ doesn’t notice Ava sneaking out, but Zari nudges her, jerks her head toward the door, and Sara follows with her eyes in time to see the last of Ava’s jacket disappearing around the frame. 

“Excuse me,” she says, putting her drink down on the table, and feels their teasing smiles from behind as she exits.

“Ava, wait,” she says, and manages to grab Ava’s arm before she can finish pulling up her portal in the hallway. “Weren’t you even going to say goodbye?”

“I have paperwork to do,” Ava says, not quite meeting her eyes. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon. With Mallus and the Darkhs out of the way, we have the same mission again - fixing anachronisms.” 

"Don't get excited, I’m sure another crisis will pop up before long,” Sara assures her dryly, pleased when Ava laughs a little. 

Even with recent blood loss half a beer isn’t much of an excuse, but maybe she doesn’t need an excuse to kiss the woman she loves. It’s new territory, but she tries it, pulling Ava in and cradling her cheek in a hand, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she isn’t interested.

Ava holds very still in her grasp, lets Sara bring their lips together. Sara stays gentle, afraid of scaring her off, as she gathers Ava more completely into her arms. There’s a moment of hesitation where she thinks Ava is going to break it off, is going to leave, and then instead she melts into her, deepening the kiss.

And it really is just what the two of them are like,  _ every time _ – the intensity is immediate. There’s never been a slow build between them; loving or fighting, she and Ava have always moved straight into extremes.

Ava moves, backing Sara against the wall, and she has to break off momentarily to laugh, breathless. “I seem to remember you having me pressed against this hallway once before, Agent Sharpe – right before I kicked your ass,” she remarks, and Ava’s eyes narrow, amusement quirking around her lips.

“Funny – that’s not how I remember it at all,” she says, and then she presses Sara’s hands up against the wall, just like she had before, and this time instead of headbutting her Sara goes back in to recapture her lips, arching her hips against Ava’s body and enjoying the strangled noise she lets out in response, the way that she presses forward with her body so that Sara is deliciously trapped. She brings her thigh up and Sara grinds down against it, once, and then has to stop because that’s too good, and she’s  _ not  _ going to come from five minutes of making out in a hallway, with her entire team one wall away.

“Can we move this celebration into my room?” she suggests, and then promptly distracts herself biting Ava’s neck, but that’s Ava’s fault for putting it within such tempting reach. 

Ava takes the suggestion to heart, though; a moment later she pulls back just far enough to grab Sara’s wrist and yank her down the hallway. Sara follows, laughter bubbling within her alongside breathless anticipation as they practically sprint to Sara’s door, barely letting it close behind them before Ava is on her again, shoving her against it and getting tangled as she tries to simultaneously kiss Sara and remove her shirt.

It’s messy and good, and afterwards Sara isn’t even sure how parts of it happen, but she catches her breath with her head resting on Ava’s shoulder, with Ava’s long fingers drawing mindless patterns on her recently healed back.

_ ‘This spot reserved for the girlfriend of Sara Lance’ _ she remembers suddenly, and she’s so glad to have Ava back in it, back where she belongs. She buries her face in Ava’s neck to hide, hoping that her emotions aren’t too apparent – that they aren’t scaring Ava off.

“Hey… you ok?” Ava asks. She puts gentle pressure onto Sara’s shoulder, turning her over so that she can look into Sara’s eyes. Busted.

Sara puts on her best impish grin, the one meant to get her out of trouble. “This is just nice,” she says, and then something compels her to say more honestly,  “I was thinking about how glad I am to have you back here.” 

As expected, Ava’s expression dims a little, and Sara breathes through the hurt that she has no right to feel. Of  _ course  _ this moment of celebration doesn’t mean she has Ava back. That’s not what they are anymore, and she can’t even be angry about it. Ava has too much going on right now to balance a lovelorn assassin on top of everything else. It was stupid to even let her mind go there, and now she’s ruined this moment because she couldn’t just appreciate it for what it was.

Ava opens her mouth, and Sara winces and waits for the gentle letdown. “I’m going to quit my job at the bureau,” Ava says. 

“Wait, what?” That’s not what she was expecting to hear at all, and she sits up, trying to switch tracks quickly enough to think this through. “Ava…” 

“I need to find out who I am,” Ava says. “I’m never going to know which parts of me are real if I stay in the role I was programmed for. I have to get away for awhile, and I’m telling you because I don’t want you to think that - that  _ you’re  _ the thing I’m leaving. Loving you is the only part of myself I’m sure about right now.” 

“You love me,” Sara repeats, and hates the uncertainty that she can hear in her own voice.

“I really do,” Ava murmurs. “Is that…. still ok?”

“It’s perfect,” Sara says, and leans in to kiss her, slow and soft. “I love you too.”

“I don’t know where I’m going to go yet,” Ava says. “But - we can stay in touch? I think I can probably get away with a temporal communicator, at least.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m not giving you up now,” Sara promises, relishing the way their bare legs are twined together, the sight of Ava rumpled and soft against her sheets. “I just got you back.” She rests her head back against Ava’s chest and tries to think how to phrase her next request, how to sound like it’s a casual offer instead of the thing she wants most in this entire universe that they’ve just saved.

“You know…. The Waverider has some spare rooms. If you’re looking for a new job, I happen to know a crew that could use your expertise,” she says. There’s a moment of silence, and then Ava sits up, displacing her.

“Really?” she asks, looking searchingly into Sara’s eyes, as though she can’t believe that this could be a real offer. “You’d want me on your team?”

“Well yeah… of course,” Sara says. “I love you, and I want you here.” She has a feeling she’s going to be repeating that a lot for awhile; she has some things to make up for, some doubts to dispel. But – “But I also want you to find what you need, and if the Waverider isn’t far enough for you to go, then I understand.” She pulls Ava’s hands into her own, facing her. “If you have to leave, I’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready to come back, alright?” 

“Thank you,” Ava murmurs, and kisses her again. Sara savors it, storing what she can against the heartbreak in her immediate future. But then Ava pulls back and smiles at her, says, “I think a spaceship full of disastrous rebels might be a pretty great place to start sorting myself out. What do you think - will the captain need a copy of my resume?” 

It’s like the sun coming out, and Sara can’t stop the grin spreading across her face – has no desire to. “Well,” she says consideringly, “I’m  _ very  _ interested in what kind of skills you’re going to be bringing onboard…” and laughing, she follows Ava back down into her sheets.

**Author's Note:**

> this is totally unbeta'd whoooops  
> (also i need friends in this fandom to scream with, if u have a tumblr and want a co-screamer, def. hit me up at coop-writes)


End file.
